Paintballing

This past weekend we got invited to go paintballing with some friends.

Confession time. I've never in my whole life been paintballing. 

Kade was so disappointed! Hahaha. 

I really had no interest in doing it to be honest... This time or any other time. I heard it hurts when you get hit and you get massive welts. Not interested. 

After much asking and prodding, and a huge, fluffy, man-sized down coat being brought out, I somehow got roped into it.

I had no idea what to expect!! I really was so nervous. Sweaty palms, shaky knees, the whole bit. Plus, I was playing with 15 guys who were really into this stuff. I mean, reeeeaally into this stuff. 

We played in a forest and the second they shouted GO and I ran through the trees SO fast to the biggest one and hid behind it. I don't even think I shot the gun once. But hey! I didn't get hit! 

After that I started warming up and using the gun and running around and shooting and stuff. I felt so cool.

I only lasted a couple rounds. I was melting in that huge coat. I wanted to play more but there was absolutely no way I was going without that thing. 

I only got hit one time and it skimmed the sleeve of the coat so I really actually never got hit. It was awesome. 

 Here is the big coat of awesome. I give this guy 2 big thumbs up.

Just looking all hardcore and stuff. 

Aaaaand then totally killing the hardcore vibe. Haha!

In all of these pictures I was totally smiling and then trying to have a straight face and look all cool and then after looking at them I realized you can't even see our faces. Hahahaha *face palm*. 

After the experience I had, I'd definitely play paintball again. Assuming the big, man coat gets to come with, of course. 

We went "upcountry" to play and have our little bonfire. It is unreal up there. I wish pictures would do it justice but they just don't!! 

It is incredible. 

And cold. It was super nice to put on actual shoes (with socks!!!) and wear jeans.

Our weenie roastin', mallow toasting view.

Hooray for paintballing, not getting hit while paintballing, pretty sunsets, and marshmallows! 

Halloween

Halloween this year was kind of different. Besides the fact that we weren't home... I didn't get to eat my mom's uhhhmazeballs donuts (that's 3 years in a row!!!! It's a crime!), we didn't have any trick-or-treaters, aaaand we were in bed by 10. 

It felt so bizarre. 

We're lame. We didn't even buy candy for trick-or-treaters because we didn't expect any. Which ended up being a good thing because, like I said, we didn't have a one! 

We went to the ABC Store at like 9:30 because I was dying for a Reese's Peanut Buttercup (HAHA) and we didn't have any so we walked down our street and there wasn't a soul in sight! It was so dead! 

That was so strange to me because at home the party is still going all hours of the night ya know? 

Anywayyyyyy.... 

Instead of dressing up on actual Halloween, we dressed up for our ward's trunk or treat. 

This was the result of a last minute Target run. 

The pizza is a children's small and was the last one... But I think it turned out alright...

We got pretty into it when we were figuring out our trunk though. We made a pretty legit oven! Complete with actual Pizza Hut pizza boxes!! That we were totally willing to pay for! Hahaha oh geez. The nice filippino lady gave them to us for free btw.

This is pretty much the only picture we took with it... So you can't even see the detail or the blood and tears on our display! 

Just kidding.

It did look pretty legit, though.

Our carved pineapples turned pretty swell too! 

I'm a total fan of that. They're a tad more challenging to carve (read way mega sticky and messy) but they looked so cool! 

Don't worry, we made sure to carve them at someone else's house. ;)  

They smelled so good!

Just to keep it traditional we did carve our pumpkin from the patch. But I liked the pineapple way better.

Bummer is, they rotted so fast (darn humidity) that we had to throw them away like 3 days after we carved them.

Actual Halloween ended up being a pretty laid back night, which I wasn't mad about. And there was no sugar hangover the next day!

Slightly bummed about that....

Hope your Halloween was as cheesy as ours! :)

HAHA.

All things health...

This post has been in the works for a long time now. But never made it to the written out phase. For a number of reasons.

1. My thoughts on this are kiiiiind of all over the place. I have like, a million on this subject.
2. Because of #1, all of my thoughts don't really have a point.
3. I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea and thinking I have a bad self image and am fishing for compliments or am hypocritical or anything weird like that.

But, for whatever reason, I've felt a nudge to write about this so I'm going with it! Hopefully I find a point to all of this somewhere along the road haha.

Anyone that knows me knows that I like to exercise and eat healthy. It's my "thing" you could say.

Exercise has never been an issue for me. I started doing it daily in jr. high and pretty much haven't stopped since. I was hardcore dedicated to it even on my mission.
It sure wasn't pretty but I did it?

I ran competitively in high school and college and ran for fun on my mission and after and then I got into weight lifting and I really liked that and I like spin classes and I like yoga aaand you get the point. I super like working out. It's a total priority for me.

It's like therapy, ya know?

I feel more confident when I exercise. Shallow, I know. But really.

And I guess it's good because you hear all the time that you should exercise because it's good for your body.

So that's nice. Put a nice little checky mark next to that.

Then, we come to food. There is a saying floating around that abs are made in the kitchen. Do I believe it?

Yeah, I sort of actually do. When I eat good, healthy, and nutritious foods I've noticed that my body looks better. They make me feel better too so that's a plus.

But here is the dilemma that I face on the daily.

Do I restrict myself so I can have a rockin' bod, OR, do I say life's too short, OR, do I walk the scary line of balance?

This kills me.

I WANT my body to perform at tip-top shape, I WANT to be confident and feel good with how I look, I WANT to have a six pack, but I also WANT ice cream...or tacos.

This pretty much sums up my life.

I'm just over here trying to find balance. 

IT'S HARD. 

Don't get me wrong, I really do love healthy foods. They are usually what I gravitate towards too. But sometimes, man... sometimes a girl just wants an ice cream cone or a shiz ton of peanut butter. Ya feel me??

But, despite my insanely crazy and really strong cravings, I've tried to be better about listening to my body and deciding what it really needs. Do I reeeeeally need that cookie or am I just bored or am I actually hungry?

Sometimes I decide I don't need it and will eat something else and sometimes I eat the dang cookie. 

And it's good. And I enjoy it. 

Aaaaaand sometimes I go overboard and eat 5 cookies... Hahaha. 

Like I said, I'm working on the whole balance thing. 

I'm really just trying to be the healthiest I can for MY body while also not letting the good stuff in life pass by. 

I am a firm believer that our bodies are a gift and we are SO lucky to have them. And you only get one, so you should probs take care of it. 

So that's what I try to do.

But, on this rollercoaster of health, I've come to realize that health looks different on everyone. What works for me won't work for her and what works for her won't work for that girl over there and it's a very personalized thing. 

Like, some people can eat whatever they want and never gain a pound (lucky b's), and some can't go within 5 feet of a cupcake or they will gain 10 pounds.

One of my favorite people on Insta (@haleya_fit_happens) posted this a while ago and I think it says it best. 

I absolutely agree.

Btw, if anyone needs someone suuuuper motivating and incredibly fit to follow?? She's your girl. I did her 12 week program and it is muy, muy bueno. 

She also posted this.

She's awesome.

For now I'm going to stop worrying about the size of my thighs, how many calories are in that, what other people think of me and just eat healthy, exercise, and be happy. 

Phew.

I'm not really sure if I ever got to a point here... But, I got a few of my thoughts out. 

That's what blogs are for right??? Haha. 

So I guess if anyone needs me... I'll just be doing my Kayla workout rewarding myself by eating a cookie after :)

The Pumpkin Patch

THERE IS A PUMPKIN PATCH HERE IN MAUI.

I felt the need to put that all in caps because this was a big deal.

I got all pouty for a minute thinking that because we're in Hawaii we won't get to do all the fun fall things, which is still partially true. But, it's fine. Some things I can live without doing. For instance... wearing cute boots and drinking hot chocolate on the reg, because it's still hotter than Hades here and so I don't really feel like doing that.

I really was sad about missing out on pumpkins though!! Lucky for us, we have awesome friends with little kids so they knew about the fun pumpkin patch wayyy up on the mountain. 

Speaking of way up on the mountain... LOOK at this view. Just look! You could see pretty much the whole island. It was insanely beautiful. 

It really was an awesome, little pumpkin patch.

I was all for picking like 6 pumpkins and taking them all home and carving the crap outta them! 

How do you ever pick just one anyway!?

But then Kade told me that in Hawaii you carve pineapples and watermelons instead... Soooooooo that should be interesting. 

In the end we only got one. 

But it's a good one. A real good one.  

And now I'm feeling much better about this whole "fall in Hawaii" thing. 

Side note: I promise I don't always look like such a scrub! In probably the last 5 pictures Kade and I have taken together I am basically wearing the exact same outfit. I actually do wear clothes that don't say Vivint Solar on them. Hahaha. 

It just happened to be Take Your Wife to Work Day. So I gotta rep ya know? 

Social Media

I have a love/hate relationship with social media. Probably like most everybody else.

I love following people and and seeing what's going on with them and being motivated and getting ideas (stalking occasionally. we all do it...) and yadda yadda. 

I don't like that it makes me feel crappy. Sometimes really crappy! 

It totally has a way of making you compare yourself and magnifying what you don't have. 

I've realized that's what my issue is lately. I spend wayyyyy too much time on Instagram and Facebook and Snapchat and whatever else there is and it has made all moody and grumpy and stuff. 

I have felt a little off for a while. My attitude sucks, I'm really irritable and most of the time I just feel so blah about everything. Everything is BLAH. 

So I did a little evaluating and it wasn't my food, it wasn't sleep... I thought it could be the fact that I spent most of the day alone or that I'm on the computer a good portion of the time for school. But that wasn't it. Then, with a little more evaluating, it became painfully obvious that my time is being sucked into the never-ending black hole of social media.

Proof: 

Montana's schedule

Wake up, check Instagram and emails.

Go to the gym. While doing cardio check Facebook...to keep my mind off of the fact that doing cardio sucks sometimes. Haha mehhh. That's what I tell myself...

Come home, have lunch and while eating catch up on what I missed during the 2 hours of gym time on Instagram. 

Do homework, check everything. Twice.

Post frequent Snaps throughout the day.

....It could go on but I think I've made my point.

IT WAS PATHETIC. Seriously. I can't even admit how many times I looked it a day because it's so embarrassing. 

After thinking about it for a little I was really grossed out. Just by the amount of time I wasted doing something so very unproductive.

So after all of my phases (you know, denial, acceptance and embarrassment, shame...) I have come up with a plan. 

I will most definitely not be doing a "social media fast" because let's be honest... I would be setting myself up for failure. And frankly, I don't want to. Haha! I like social media and I think it can do good things. But, I do need limits. So, from now until whenever I feel like it, I am only checking any sort of social media 2 times a day. Some of you probably already do that and think I'm ridiculous... but I'm a recovering addict (haha) and it's going to be a challenge. 

I'm hoping this will help me to be a little more humble and grateful and nicer to my husband and not so moody and just a bit happier. 

This quote serves as a good reminder.

Now I need some new hobbies. I've got so much free time!! 

Blogging doesn't count, btw. It's a journal ;)

Our Story - The Courtship

So! Continuing with our story.... 

It's time to tell about the real first date. 

And our first week of dates. Cause yeah, I saw him every single day the week I got home.

I think the day of I spent half of it at the gym (hahahaha.. hha. ha. post mission bod. yiiiiikes.) and the other half getting ready. 

My mom had this really cute, gold sequined skirt that I wanted to wear and we both thought it would be hilarious to text Kade and tell him to get a matching vest. We seriously thought we were so funny.

He called me in a panic like 5 minutes later asking if I was serious. My mom and I busted up laughing! I told him we were kidding but then he got all self conscious about what he was going to wear so when he came to pick me up he brought like half of his wardrobe so I could help him find something.

Little did I know, he actually did go out and buy a gold tie so we could match! That was cute. 

So we went and got Thai food (which has now become our "thing") and went to the play. 

HE HELD MY HAND, PEOPLE. 

It was real nice. It wasn't even weird! It felt totally naturally. And it was like, holding hands with a super hot guy that I was basically in love with after 18 months of nothin. So yeah, real nice. 

The next day we didn't have plans to hang out but I got a call from him that night asking me to come spy on a blind date his friend was going on. Haha. So we ate Yogurtland and pretended to be a couple (heart flutters) while we observed their date. 

Side note on this night: Kade asked me to pick him up. I drove him in my car!! I was so panicked. I think I drove like an psycho and I'm pretty sure he was nervous. But I didn't crash, so, success.

The next day it was his sister's play. I was stoked because we had to drive up to Ogden. Alllllll of that car time. Alone. Together. It was great. 

We had dinner with his parents before the show. That was nerve wracking. Thankfully his parents are some of the sweetest people on planet earth and either took no notice and just thought I was odd or they ignored my nervous ramblings.

It was a super cute play and he held my hand again! And we had the whole drive home. Winning!

This next day was probably my favorite. Kade and his friends invited me to go ice skating up in Salt Lake. 

Thankfully I'm not very good at ice skating so I told Kade that I needed to hold his hand so I could skate. Hehe. 

So, there we were just skating around the rink, having a grand ole time when these kids on the side of the rink started cheering "KISS!" at every couple that skated passed. (Kade and I probably did the awkward chuckle and side glance at each other...)

But then, the song I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas came on... So that next loop around Kade swung me into the middle and planted one right on my mouth! 

I think I was so surprised and happy and giddy and stoked out of my mind that I just laughed. It was the cutest most awesome, happy thing ever. 

So, according to my calculations, Kade kissed me 5 days after I got home from my mission. I really wasn't mad. :)

The next days and weeks were filled with Kade. And loooots and lots of him. I saw him every single day after I got home. I even saw him on Christmas. And his birthday! 

He posted this picture on Instagram. It was a big deal.

On January 12, we had a DTR. You know, determine the relationship. Or as Kade likes to call them, WAWA's. You know, where are we at. 

Either way, it was initiated by me. (HAHA) Whatever... I was just barely a missionary, I knew how to get straight to the point... From then on we were "a thing". An official one :)

Just a couple of days after that we went on our first road trip together! We went to California with a bunch of friends and it was uhhhmazing. 

I thought Kade was a winner all along but then HE TOOK ME TO DISNEYLAND.

Are you kidding me!? Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Can you sense my excitement from this picture!?

The Happiest Place on Earth is right! 

Theeeen we got fake engaged. Hahaha. Different story though. 

On January 22, we had what we lovingly refer to as our "E-versary". You know, the anniversary of the day Kade first wrote me! It was pretty freakin cute. 

He brought me flowers and we lit lanterns and made wishes. 

Alright. We're getting cheesy up in here but I don't care. 

That was the night that we said the big 3 to each other!! You know, I LOVE YOU... (I STILL get butterflies thinking about it!)

After that, we shot some guns...

We flew on some planes...

We rode some motorcycles...

and some mountain boards...

Then we took another road trip to Santa Cruz! 

And 3 stellar months after I got home from my mission we took another road trip to Laguna Beach and came home engaged!!! 

That story coming soon...